


First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

by EarthsSassiestHeroes



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-18
Updated: 2013-06-18
Packaged: 2017-12-15 09:02:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/847720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarthsSassiestHeroes/pseuds/EarthsSassiestHeroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short fluffy one shot based on the classic song by Roberta Flack. The first time Steve really sees Clint's face. The first time they kiss. The first time they make love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Steve can remember the first time he really got a good look at Clint Barton. It was well after the dust had settled, exhaustion setting in. Once he felt himself relax. He saw Clint’s bright eyes reflection the afternoon sun. He had this easy confidence about him. And Steve could feel his heart beating quicker. He had turned and met Steve’s eyes. A bright smile spreading across his face. Steve had blushed slightly, as he looked away, overwhelmed by the fluttering in his stomach he suddenly felt.

That night, he couldn’t sleep and found himself wandering out onto the roof of Stark Tower. He still wasn’t quite used to the way the light of the city obscured the stars. He found himself longing for those nights in Europe where the sky spread above them like a thousand dancing candles in the night.

“It’s weird not seeing the stars,” Clint’s voice says softly behind him.

“Yeah, it is,” Steve says turning to see that Clint had been sitting off to the right in the shadows. He offers a gentle smile.

“Can’t sleep?” Clint enquired pulling himself up to stand. He had changed out of his uniform and was wearing a simple black tee and dark grey sweat pants, barefooted despite the various debris still scattered around.

“I’ve had trouble ever since...” Steve trailed off, he knew Clint was likely well versed on everything that had happened. It seemed most people were familiar with the story. Clint nodded in agreement.

“Next time you can’t sleep maybe we can head up state. Once you get out of the city it’s easier to really see the stars.” His voice was soft, a vulnerability that Steve had heard under a layer of anger during the battle.

“I’d like that.” Steve grinned, Clint mirroring him. He felt a warmth growing in his chest at the thought of driving on the open road under the stars on his motorcycle. Clint’s strong arms wrapped around his waist. Just them, alone under the expanse of the dark open sky.

  


Steve can remember the first time he ever kissed Clint. He’d thought about it more times than he could count. But he also knew that Clint was a complicated man. He’d suffered abuse throughout his life, and Steve knew the kind of walls that built in people. They’d exchanged flirtations, long glances. Tony had made more than one childish remark, and Natasha had given him a very serious and slightly terrifying look after noticing one particularly intense glance had been noticed. The kind of look that made it clear she held him dear and would bring harm to anyone who hurt him.

“Thank you,” Steve’s voice was quiet.

“What for?” Clint turned to him, a look of confusion spread across his face. They were leaving a theatre after watching a silent film about a dystopian future, and star crossed lovers. The cold wind gusted along, Clint shivered slightly.

“For this.” Steve’s hand gestured to the theater behind them. “Everyone always seems so intent on getting me caught up on what I missed, and making me modernize. You’re the first person to ask me to do anything that didn’t make me feel completely like a fish outta water.” Steve was slightly flustered, frustration in his voice. He had been adapting quite well, but he was still bothered by it more than he usually let on.

“You’re welcome Steve.” A smile tugging at the corner of Clint’s mouth as he rested a hand gently on Steve’s arm. “I know what it’s like to feel like that. I never had much of anything in life. People don’t realize it can cut sometimes. Like when Sitwell realized I had never had sushi. Or the time I asked Melinda what Sesame Street was. They all had a pretty good laugh at that one.” Clint looked down at his shoes.

“You never have to feel that way around me,” Steve said quietly as he took half a step forward, not quite knowing why. When Clint looked up at him, he felt that all too familiar heat and a light fluttering. Moving more on instinct than any rational thought, Steve leaned down slowly. Clint’s lips were soft against his. A slight brush of stubble against his skin.

The kiss was light and sweet. Steve’s hand reaching up to rest on Clint’s cheek. When they parted, the look in Clint’s eyes wasn’t like anything Steve had seen before. Gone was all the machismo, and confidence. Looking back at him he thought to himself, was the real Clint. The man who was a little boy once. Who had been through so much. Who had lost everything he held dear.

“I’m sorry Clint. I didn’t mean to...”

“Don’t be sorry Steve. I just... I don’t let people get close. But you... You’re different.” Steve smiled at this. Clint’s hand came to rest on his face and he leaned into it gently.

“I’m just a kid from Brooklyn,” Steve said with a small smile.

“But you’re a good man.” Clint said, pulling Steve in for another kiss. This one deep and full of unspoken words and longing.

 

Steve remembers the first time they make love. Clint cries afterward. Steve felt his heart wrench from his chest when he hears the soft sob and feels tears on his chest. “Clint?”

“It’s fine Steve. I’m fine I just..” Clint wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. Steve arms pulling him closer. “I love you.” His voice is barely a whisper. Steve pressed a soft kiss to the crown of his head.

“I started falling in love with you after we saved New York.” Steve’s voice quiet and reverent. “And I knew the moment we kissed that I wanted to spend my life with you. I love you” Clint looks up to Steve’s eyes. “I’ve wanted to tell you for so long. But I wasn’t sure you were ready to hear it. I figured it would take you much longer to say it. But I didn’t want to scare you off.”

“I was scared to say it. But I do.” Clint pulled Steve’s arms up around him. Their hands intertwined. “It just became so apparent. Like being in love with you was a fact of life. I couldn’t deny it anymore then gravity. I knew it in my heart.” Clint pulled Steve’s hand up and kissed the back of it gently. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

That night they both sleep deeply in one another’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. It isn't my best work but I kept listening to this song at work and needed to get this fic out of my head and into words. Comments and kudos always appreciated!


End file.
